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sopher: the covering of the seed perishes; the germ 

 subsists, and assures man of immortality. 



Man therefore Fsnot in himself what he appears to be. 

 What we discover of him here below is only the gross 

 foldage under which he crawls on the earth, and which 

 he must shortly cast off. 



The Irain is a small organical machine, destined to re- 

 ceive the impressions made on the different parts of the 

 body, and to transmit them to the soul. It is by means 

 of this that the soul acts on various points of the body, 

 and adheres to nature. 



The* extremities of all the nerves, radiate to the seat 

 of the soul : it is in some measure the centre of this ad- 

 mirable collection, tht j threads of which are so numer- 

 ous, fine, delicate, and full of motion. 



But the nerves are not stretched like the strings of an 

 instrument of music. Animals that are entirely glutin- 

 ous, are notwithstanding very sensible. 



We then admit there is a fluid in the nerves, whose 

 subtilty prevents our seeing it ; and which serves both 

 for the propagation of sensible impressions, and muscu- 

 lar motion. 



The instantaneousness of this propagation, and some 

 other phenomena, indicate that there is a certain ana- 

 logy between the nervous fluid and fire or light. 



We know that all bodies are impregnated by fire. It 

 abounds in aliment. It is extracted from it by the 

 brain, from whence it passes into the nerves. 



The seat of the soul, the immediate organ of feeling 

 and thought, can be no other than a composition of this 

 vital fire. Tiie brain which we see ami feel, must 

 therefore only be the case or covering of the ethereal 

 machine, which constitutes the real seat of the soul. 



It may indeed be the germ of that spiritual and glo- 

 rious body, which REVELATION opposes to the animal 

 and vile. 



The resurrection, then, will only consist in a prodi- 

 giously rapid unfolding of this germ, which lies hid in 

 the brain. 



